Providing that the underestimation (15%) of the
cardiac index would be compensated, the single PC aortic acquisition could be
an interesting alternative to a whole cardiac acquisition to estimate the
cardiac index. The automated processing of aortic acquisition enables to
drastically reduce the operators intervention. It would enable a reduction
of the acquisition duration, which is highly desirable in combined vascular
and brain protocols applied to an aging population. Moreover, ascending
aortic strain and pulse wave velocity in the aortic arch (requiring a
supplementary sagittal acquisition), which are considered as promising
biomarkers of vascular aging, could be equally estimated easily.